


meet the family

by SerpentineJ



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: ???? - Freeform, Fluff, M/M, and domestic tropes, what is it w this pairing and endless fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-18
Updated: 2016-01-17
Packaged: 2018-05-14 16:24:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5750062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerpentineJ/pseuds/SerpentineJ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carisi and Barba have dealt with the difficulties of flirting, getting together, dating, fucking- what's the next big step?</p>
            </blockquote>





	meet the family

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: fuuuuuck me there's something about barisi that gets me going w est. relationship fics. un-beta'd. tell me if they're super ooc.

"Raf?" Carisi calls, toeing off his shoes at the door of the other man's apartment, which he's all but moved into, dropping his bag on an armchair and loosening his tie. "You in there?"

Barba's voice sounds from the study. "In here." He says. It must be a late night. He sounds tired, low and gravelly, something weary in his voice.

Sonny pushes the door open, walks forwards, leans on the desk. "Hey." He says, smiling. Barba looks away from his paperwork to peer up at him. His eyes are just barely red-rimmed, and the shadows sketched out under them are even more pronounced than usual.

"Hey." Rafael sighs, setting down his pen, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples. "How was class."

The corners of Carisi's mouth quirk upwards. "Fine. Apparently your day wasn't great, from the looks of you."

"Yeah." Barba replies, and goddamn, he looks bad- not bad-bad, because he's Rafael Barba, handsome bastard, but his eyes are tired and his shirt is unbuttoned at the collar, tie completely undone, and that must be his fifth or sixth cup of coffee today from the way his finger is twitching distractedly. "One of the ADAs fucked up a case, and we're all stuck wiping up this paperwork mess." He sounds stretched thin.

"Okay." Sonny says, leaning forwards to shut the manila folder that's open on Barba's desk, and makes his way around the desk to grab Rafael by the shoulders. "Up. Come on. You're exhausted, grumpy, you're going to bed."

Barba exhales as he stands fully straight, stretching his back. "Hnng." He groans. "Dios mio, that hurts."

"You know it's, like, midnight, right?" Sonny asks, steering him towards the bedroom. "How long have you been sitting here?"

"I don't remember." Barba sighs.

Carisi shakes his head and opens the closet door, tossing their pajamas onto the bed, shrugging his jacket off and unravels his tie. "Come on," he says, smiling exasperatedly, "change, brush, sleep."

"Yeah, yeah." Rafael unbuttons his shirt, pulls on an undershirt, goes into the bathroom to brush his teeth, and Sonny quickly follows. He wraps an arm around Barba's waist and picks up his own toothbrush.

"You're the one pulling a full-time job and night law school." Barba mutters. "I'm supposed to be taking care of you."

Sonny smiles. "Yeah, well. You're a huge workaholic, in case you haven't noticed."

Barba sighs. "Sorry."

"Love you too." Carisi squeezes his shoulder.

When they get tucked into bed, Sonny on the left, Rafael on the right, the clock reads 12:21 am. They're both, honestly, exhausted.

There's a beat of silence.

"Hey." Sonny says. "Raf, I've been meaning to ask you something."

Barba cracks one eye open. 

"Something that can't wait six hours?" He asks, a slight edge to his voice, but Carisi doesn't do anything but chuckle at his partner.

"Just a question." He says. "Do you want to meet my folks this weekend?"

Rafael opens both eyes, a little more awake. "Your family?" He asks.

Sonny can feel his face beginning to flush. "Yeah," he says, "I know you've already met Bella and Tommy, but I've got a couple more sisters. And parents." 

Barba purses his lips.

"Yes." He sighs. "Of course. But can we discuss this in the morning, please?"

Sonny smiles.

"Sure, Raf." He replies, and wraps a long arm around the other man's waist."Talk tomorrow."

They sleep.

~~~~~~

Morning.

"Mmm." Barba groans, because, fuck, there's light in his face. Sonny's goddamn habit of opening the shades when he gets up. "Carisi, where the hell are you."

There's a chuckle. 

"Here, Councillor." Sonny teases, and Rafael opens his eyes, and oh. That's a nice sight to wake up to. His boyfriend, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist, hair half-damp and tousled, no gel yet. "You're still grouchy."

"Not a morning person." Barba mutters, sitting up, eyes blinking more open, more awake, when the scent of hot coffee wafts in from the kitchen. "Why are you so energetic all the time."

Carisi tugs on a t-shirt and grins. "I spend less energy on being sarcastic." He pauses. "And I take naps in the break room at the station."

Rafael stands up, off the bed, stretching, and rolls his eyes. "Of course." He huffs. "Meanwhile, I'm stuck cleaning up the mess of that moron Johnson-"

"Hey." Sonny swats him on the shoulder. "Johnson's a nice guy."

Barba shrugs. "That doesn't mean I should have to pick up his slack."

"You're an asshole." Carisi sighs, smiling all the same. "Breakfast?"

Rafael looks at him. "You made breakfast?" He asks. "You're spoiling me."

Sonny leans down to kiss his boyfriend, despite the fact that Barba probably has morning breath like hell.

"I grew up with two younger sisters. What can I say." He laughs. "I like to spoil people I care about."

"Mmm. I'll take you out to dinner this week." Barba smiles and follows Sonny into the kitchen. "Speaking of your sisters, do you still want me to meet your family?"

Carisi's eyebrows jump about half an inch up his forehead. "You remembered?" He asks, a grin spreading over his face.

Rafael rolls his eyes. He opens the fridge, takes out a jug of water and a glass.

"Of course." He says.

Sonny huffs a laugh. There's eggs and ham warm on the stove, and he splits it onto two plates.

"Yeah." He replies. "We have a family dinner once a month, at my parent's place on Staten Island, and I thought it'd be nice if you came. If you want to." He hastens to add. "I mean, Bella's kind of been hinting at me asking."

"How far along is your sister?" Barba asks, taking their plates to the small table by the sliding-glass door to the balcony.

Carisi brings two mugs of coffee and sits down. "Seven months, so pretty far." He replies.

Barba nods. "And any other Carisi family members that I need to watch out for in particular?" He chuckles, forking a bite of egg into his mouth.

Sonny laughs.

"Teresa's the oldest." He says, smiling. "She's still single 'cause she's super ambitious, so she's got high standards in terms of taste in guys. Expensive standards." He drops two spoonfuls of sugar and a dash of milk in his drink before taking a sip. "Gina's the third youngest. She's the complete opposite. Been engaged, like, ten times. My parents are happily married, but... you know. They're parents."

Rafael snorts. "Italians." He says lightly. "They sound as crazy as nos los Cubanos."

Sonny shrugs.

"That's how we do it." He grins. "Speaking of your family..."

Barba nods.

"I think you'd like them." He speculates, grinning. "I'd invite you to Mass, but I haven't been to church since last Easter, and mi Mama is at an educational conference in Los Angeles all this week."

Carisi smiles.

"So," he says, "dinner at my parent's at 6 on Saturday?"

Barba lets a rare full smile take over his face.

"Sounds good." He says, and goes back to his ham.

~~~~~~

Saturday, 5:00 pm.

"Sonny!" Barba says, loudly, arms crossed. "Traffic through Manhattan at this hour is a bitch, we're going to be late."

Carisi pokes his head out of the bedroom. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." He grumbles. "It's not like it matters if we're ten minutes late, Gina's not gonna get there for another hour and a half at least."

Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration. "Hour and fifteen minutes." He corrects himself.

"Yeah, well, I'd like to make a good first impression." Rafael mutters, checking his watch. "Being late is not conductive to good first impressions."

Sonny finally emerges from the bedroom, looking... no different than he would on any work day. "Fine, let's go." He says. "And you'll be fine, Raf. Bella and Tommy already love you, Teresa's gonna try to get you to give her the number of the highest-earning DA in your office, Gina's either gonna flirt with you or make fun of me, and my parents will be glad I've finally found someone who convinced me to shave my mustache."

Barba frowns.

"Bella and Tommy 'love me' because I kept Tommy out of jail." He mutters. "And you shaved your mustache for me? That can't have been more than two weeks after we met, we barely knew each other."

Carisi shrugs.

"Yeah, well," he says, "Bella kept telling me I looked like either a pedophile or a bad pornstar, which are both... not optimal for work in SVU- then I got here, and the ADA was cute. And a snappy dresser. So I figured I'd better go clean-shaven." Sonny grins.

Rafael doesn't respond, but abruptly backs Carisi up against a wall, pressing their lips together, and Sonny makes a small noise before he moans and melts into the kiss.

When they break apart, both men are breathing hard.

"Now who's making us late?" Carisi laughs breathlessly, and Barba rolls his eyes, hands still tight around the other man's hips.

"Shut it." He relinquishes his grip on Sonny reluctantly and makes to open the door, stilling when the other man wraps his arms around his waist and presses his lips to the nape of his neck.

"Have I ever mentioned how annoying you are?" Rafael grumbles half-heartedly. "You're the one who invited me to this thing, stop delaying us."

Sonny smiles into his skin. "Yeah, I love you too." He murmurs. "We should probably go."

"Finally." Barba huffs. His tone can't disguise how his cheeks flush and the tips of his ears turn pink. His voice turns softer. "Love you."

Carisi grins.

~~~~~~

Same day, 6:05 pm.

Sonny rings the doorbell.

Immediately, the sound of footsteps sounds from inside the house- a dog begins to bark, and the door is yanked open by a willowy woman with dark hair.

"Sonny!" She shouts, stepping forwards to envelop him in a hug. "It's feels like it's been a hell of a long time, little brother."

Carisi- though, Rafael supposes, they're all Carisis- beams, wide smiles, arms around his sister. "Reese!" He says. "It's good to see you too."

They break apart, and Teresa- because this has got to be Teresa, right?- grins at Barba.  
"Who's this, Sonny?" She laughs. "You brought a date!"

"Ah, yeah." Sonny smiles. "Reese, this is my boyfriend, Rafael Barba. Raf, this is Teresa."

Barba extends a hand. "Nice to meet you." He says.

Teresa chuckles incredulously. "Sonny, you actually brought a date!" She exclaims.

"Mom's gonna be thrilled." She grabs Rafael's hand, but doesn't shake it- instead, she pulls him into a one-armed hug, patting him on the back before drawing away. "Welcome to the family, Rafael."

"Glad to be here." He's grinning. Lively families always remind him of his childhood- the good parts, not his father. "I'm sure you have all kinds of stories about Sonny."

Teresa raises her eyebrows. "Whoa, you have no idea." She shake her head, still smiling. "I like him, Sonny."

"Yeah, well, let us in the door and let the rest of the folks get to like him." Sonny laughs, kicking off his shoes and tossing his jacket over the handrail to the stairs. "Where's Bruno? Bruno!"

Bruno, as it turns out, is a beast of a Saint Bernard, who immediately tackles Sonny, nearly taking him down to his knees.

"Hey, boy!" Carisi laughs, bright as a ray of fucking sunshine. God, Rafael loves him. "Hey, didya miss me?"

Barba smiles.

"Bella!" Teresa hollers. "Bell, Sonny's here! With his date!"

Sonny rolls his eyes. "Oh my god, Reese." He says, exasperated. "Stop trying to embarrass Raf."

"Not embarrassing." Rafael grins.

Carisi sighs. "You're gonna be as bad as them." He moans theatrically. "They're gonna corrupt you- or you're gonna corrupt them- and making fun of me is gonna become your life goal."

"Who says it isn't already?" Barba smiles indulgently, a real, full smile- fuck, Sonny still can't get used to seeing those from sassy, sarcastic ADA Barba, the fondness in them, and every time he does it sends butterflies fluttering in his stomach and electric sparks down to his toes- and takes off his jacket, toes off his shoes and sets them neatly by the door, loosens his tie a touch.

"True." Sonny nods somberly. "I have terrible taste in men."

Teresa laughs. "You kidding me?" She snickers. "I'll take him if you don't want him. Smart and a sharp dresser- where'd Sonny dig you up?"

"Oh my god, Reese." Sonny groans, letting Bruno weave around his calves, burying his face in his hands. "Would you stop it."

"I'm the ADA that the SVU usually works with." Rafael supplies, grinning. "And I'm flattered, but I'm bent as a tension wrench, and very much in love with your brother."

Carisi's sister beams. "A lawyer!" She says. "Now you've gotta dish. Who's the cutest lawyer in the office?"

Sonny sighs.

"Perfect." He exhales, faux-put-out, smiling faintly.

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: will i finish this? maybe. (psa: i am very, very susceptible to any kind of praise. especially comments.) depends on if i get a hankering for more terrible meet-the-folks barisi. (if i do, i'll probably do sonny-meets-the-barbas too...)
> 
> unrelated, but "rage potato" would have been a great tumblr char tag for carisi, if a) i weren't already using it for chet desmond (twin peaks) and b) if sonny weren't obviously a lean bean sprout...
> 
> [i'm on tumblr.](http://serpentinej.tumblr.com)


End file.
